auditioning actors for small roles?

[Ralph D]

I'm currently in pre-production on my next short, but I'm not sure how to go about auditioning actors whose roles only contain two or three lines of dialogue.

Is it even worth having people audition for small roles like these? Should they go through as much of an audition as the actors for the main dialogue-heavy roles?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[mrblue1022]

I would say have them audition using the sides of your leads. You may be surprised and decided to recast your film. If you don't want to waste time auditioning what are basically Day Players, just have them submit their reel. If they don't have a reel they probably aren't worth casting anyway.

 

[taormina]

Every time I ran into this I just hired them based on their headhsot. Plus, if you've picked them from Actor's access or some other site, they usually have reels on line.

One point of qualification is that I shoot excluseively union pictures....I figure if I get a bit part guy and he's SAG, how bad can it be?

So far it has worked out OK.